


Stranded

by Lostkid



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Nebula Needs a Hug, Swearing, Thanos is awful and I hate him, Tony Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-28 00:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15037124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lostkid/pseuds/Lostkid
Summary: Sometimes, you've just got to rely on a complete stranger to get you off an alien planet and back home.Sometimes that stranger is a blue alien cyborg who could snap you in half.Sometimes life is weird.





	Stranded

_“I am nothing if not merciful, child.”_

 

 

_“Then you are **nothing**.”_

* * *

They were alone. They had failed. Everyone else had died, and the worst part was that she hadn’t. The man, -the only other one left behind- didn’t move; he sat there, cradling his ash-covered hand for what could’ve been hours, breaths uneven and shoulders trembling. She wasn’t going to comfort him; she wasn’t even sure  _how_  to, especially for a stranger. She was more familiar with slaughtering them. It was something she did well, and yet it was never enough, not for him. Not for Thanos.

The man had lost the boy. His son? It seemed that way, but fathers didn’t act like that. They didn’t care. They just hurt, and judged, and shouted and  _tortured-_

“Kid, this isn’t funny, come back...” The man’s muffled voice was difficult to hear with his slumped back to her and his hands covering his face, “That suit was goddamn expensive to make, spent a lot of time and effort on it for you, didn’t want you to get...to get...”

She stepped forwards as he let out a sob, the sound echoing around the barren battlefield, but stopped, unsure of what to do. She didn’t know this man, why should she comfort or assist him?

“What am I gonna tell your aunt? I let you die cause I was a dumbass who let you tag along to  _space_? You should’ve stayed home, you would’ve been  _fine_ , you would’ve been...” He suddenly punched the nearest metal object, which barely moved as his hand was no longer covered in his metal armour. Nebula could see his knuckles bleeding. “God  _damn_  it, Strange...”

“He shouldn’t have sacrificed the stone.” She speaks honestly, gazing at the spot where the sorcerer had crumbled to ash.

“No. He shouldn’t have. He’s...he was a dumbass too.” 

“She did the same,” she took a breath, continuing as the man didn’t interrupt, “my...my sister, she...for my life, she gave the location of a stone. She exchanged her life for mine. For  _nothing_.”

Lowering down to where Mantis’ ash had fallen, she ran her hand through it. She didn’t shake; she couldn’t anymore. But her throat felt tight for the first time since she’d been a child, and lost her fifteenth fight against Gamora, when Thanos has torn out her eye and shoved a better one in. She was scared again, and it felt  _wrong_. 

_“Please, please stop it- I can win, I can this time!” A young blue-skinned Luphomoid screamed as she was pulled away from the ship’s arena, reaching out for her sister, “Gamora, help, I don’t wanna, please stop them! Let me win!”_

It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t Gamora’s fault either, she knew that. But it was still hard to forget how every time her sister would knock her down, she’d lose another part of herself, another limb, another eye. She loved and hated her sister, which made losing her all the more painful and confusing.

“Get up, Terran,” she nudged the man with her foot, “we’re leaving.”

The man raised to his feet impressively quickly, still holding his arm to his chest like he was cradling a child. He glared at her, stepping forward.

“First off, name’s Tony, Tony Stark, stop making up names for me.” She noticed his left hand trembling as he pointed at her, “Secondly, everyone just fucking  _died_ , I’m not going anywhere. There’s no point. There’s  _no_  fixing this.” He turned away before turning back to her, seeming even angrier, “You seem to know Thanos, huh? Why us? Why did  _they_  have to die? It wasn’t...it came true...but wasn’t meant to.” He ran his hands roughly through his hair, almost tugging entire clumps out. He didn’t seem alright.

“Thanos wanted to kill half of the universe. He succeeded.” She almost scoffed at her next words, “We’re the _lucky_ ones.” She was already halfway to her ship when the man (Tony, was it?) grabbed her arm. 

“You’ve gotta give me more than that, that’s not a reason.”

“Would it make you feel better if he had a  _good_  reason for killing your son?” she spat, pulling away from him with ease.

Tony seemed to freeze at that, clenching his fist against his chest. She had already reached her ship by the time she heard him beginning to follow her. Turning around to see if he actually was coming, she noticed that he seemed to be inspecting his trembling, ash-covered arm as he walked, not actually focusing on it. Not focusing on anything. She could hear him muttering to himself, the same words over and over, although she couldn’t quite discern them. As she jumped through the openable window into the cockpit, Tony suddenly spoke up, leaning against the edge of the ship’s door.

“Okay, okay, wait... where are we going? Cause unless it’s a way to fix this, then-“ his voice sounded incredibly strained, as if pretending to sound sarcastic and lighthearted was physically painful. She understood it, in a way.

“Vormir.”

“Which is...what? A country, a planet, a Lord of the Rings thing?” He was rambling, and his voice sounded a tiny bit off. Or maybe this was normal for Terrans - it wasn’t like she’d met many.

“It is where I believe my sister died. I tracked their ship’s coordinates as soon as I was free.” She blinked as she felt her eyes becoming wet, before remembering that she couldn’t cry. “I...didn’t follow them, because I thought he wouldn’t hurt her. I was wrong.” 

“But-“

“Get _in_ , Terran, before I leave you on this planet.” 

He complied, hesitantly climbing in and slumping into the only other seat. The ship itself was tiny, only about the size of a small child’s  ~~cell~~  bedroom. Nebula shook her head as that image came to her mind. For a Terran, the man seemed oddly accepting of the advanced technology surrounding him, but she had seen glimpses of him fighting in his metal suit, so she assumed that maybe Terrans weren’t quite as primitive as they’d been the last time she’d seen anything of the planet. Perhaps Quill wasn’t the best first impression for the entire species.

_Quill_. She wanted to kill him. But she also understood. She’d been seconds away from attacking the Titan herself, only her momentarily disconnected leg and a sense of paralysing grief had held her back. But they were  _so close_. She hated him, but, for perhaps the first time in years, she empathised. It wasn’t a feeling she liked.

“Is there a plan? Like, are we gonna stop the purple douchebag? Cause by this point, I don’t know if-“

“I want to find her.” She forced out through clenched teeth, punching in coordinates so hard that it would’ve stung if she still had nerves in her hands, “I need to know for sure.”

The man seemed irritated, but she didn’t pay attention to him. She was already doing him a favour by helping him leave a hellhole of a planet, he could open the airlock after they left, for all she cared.

That was only partly a lie.

“You think he threw a moon at her too? Why’d you say he wouldn’t hurt her? Didn’t seem to hold back on anyone else.”

“He is...he...was our adoptive father. He raised us. He did this.” As she spoke, her leg sparked painfully, making her hiss in pain, “I thought he loved her.”

He seemed hesitant to respond, staring at his hand again. 

“Yeah...” he leaned his head back on the chair, staring at seemingly nothing, “dads suck.” He didn’t move as the ship raised from the dirt it had crashed into, and she was thankful for the lack of distraction as she piloted them out of the planet’s choking atmosphere. She was glad to leave, the decayed landscape reminded her too much of her own planet, broken and dying after Thanos’ attack. She’d only returned once; her curiosity had been too great, and she’d wanted to know if her younger siblings had survived. They hadn’t, and the remaining inhabitants weren’t welcoming to the adopted daughter of the Titan who killed their families.

“Is this normal for you, then, uh, smurfette? Just, space, being in it, coping...with it...?”

She frowned at the odd nickname that she assumed was an insult, remembering Quill using the same one, “Nebula.”

“What?”

“My name, and yes. Space is normal for advanced species’.”

“Okay, hey, hey, I think you’re underestimating huma-“

“ _Humans_?” It was an odd name for Terrans, but they seemed to be an odd species, “It was the human  _Quill_  who allowed Thanos to keep the Gauntlet. It was the human wizard who  _gave_  the Time stone to him. It was the human spider-boy who-“

“ _Don’t._ “ The man snapped at her, and she saw him stand up from his chair in the mirror, “just  _don’t_.” He paced absentmindedly around the back of the cockpit, before glancing up at the large rounded window in front of them and letting out a choked noise. Nebula wondered if humans had an adverse reaction to space, or whether they sometimes just made odd noises. It didn’t seem like this was normal. She knew what a anxiety attack was; it wasn’t just relegated to one species, and she’d had a fair share of them as a child faced with torture. But as her cybernetic enhancements were implemented, she found that she couldn’t feel the tight pain in her throat anymore, couldn’t tremble, couldn’t even cry. Her fear was a weakness, and Thanos hated weakness. Tony didn’t seem to be dealing with it well, eyes glassy as his breathing became shallow and uneven.

“Do you want an oxygen mask?” She asked, her voice remaining monotone. He shook his head, not moving, and she sighed, pulling out a spare oxygen mask from a compartment. She tossed it to him, but he didn’t catch it, barely missing it but not bothering to pick it up when it fell. “Terr- _Stark_. Pick up the mask and sit down. I’m not having you fall over and die when we land - I’m not cleaning it up.”

_No more death, please._

When later asked, she would deny that she left the controls on autopilot, something she hated doing. She would deny that she went over and picked up the oxygen mask. She would definitely deny the fact that she sat the man down in the chair, helped with his seatbelt and positioned the oxygen mask over his mouth and nose.

She returned to the pilot seat, keeping silent for a few minutes while waiting for his breathing to return to normal. What seemed normal for a Terran, anyway. She couldn’t remember how she used to breathe without her robotic enhancements. Probably a lot more than she did now.

“I will take you back to Earth. After this. You should return to your family, if...” she didn’t finish.

_If they’re still there._

Tony didn’t respond verbally, just nodding slightly as he kept pressing the mask to his face, despite the fact that it was already secure. Terrans were unusual.

Her ship was fast, of course it was;  ~~her siblings~~  The Black Order had stolen a collection of ships from the moon Enceladus after they’d killed half the population. Thanos had gifted one to her, and then told her that if she didn’t master it as quickly as Gamora did hers, he’d rewire her brain to be equal to Gamora’s. She’d come so close to winning that time, too. But just falling short didn’t impress Thanos, and it didn’t return her capability to speak without a dull pain in the back of her skull. Still, she was good at flying now. That was all that mattered.

It still took three hours to reach Vormir. The small planet was hidden in white mist, with the lights of the city occasionally shining through like stars behind clouds. She’d never been to the planet before, but she knew that Ebony Maw and Gamora had visited it years ago, on Thanos’ orders. As the ship plunged through the clouds, they could see that a vast, seemingly endless city covered half of it, the edges stretching right up to the equator, while nothing but a barren, black wasteland covered the other half of the planet. From a distance, it seemed absurd, but it suddenly made sense as their ship flew closer to the edge of the city, and she could see mountains of skeletons piled up like morbid walls around it. She wasn’t disturbed, just curious, and as she saw a small creature excitedly bounding over the bones towards the black landscape, she watched from the sky as it instantly collapsed when it touched the ground, flesh gone in an instant. She turned the ship when what looked like a young child began to climb the bones after it, naively stumbling down towards the same fate.

So that was why. Interesting. But she knew that the Soul Stone couldn’t have been hidden there. Too obvious, too risky. Noticing a mountain in the distance, on the dead side of the planet, she instantly flew the ship towards it.

Tony seemed slightly dizzy after the quick change in direction, walking over and gripping the back of her chair, having left the oxygen mask on his. He still seemed slightly unsure, but somehow simultaneously cocky.

“So, this is like nothing to you? Hunger Games is like a weekend little-league match?” He questioned, peering back through one of the side windows at the child who was undoubtedly a pile of bones by now, and too far away for him to even see. “They need better security to stop that shit from happening.”

“They likely did. But half of them are dead now.”

Tony hummed, still looking out through the window at the city becoming smaller and smaller. He frowned, turning to Nebula but still keeping his eyes trained on the window for a few seconds.

“Cause of the poison half of the planet? Kids keep running into it? Or cause of Thanos’...I dunno, curse?” He clearly attempted to use a joking tone, but as soon as he referred to Thanos and the deaths, his voice became strained. She wondered if he really believed that it was just a curse, as if it could be reversed.

“Most children recognise danger when confronted with an abundance of it,” she bit, feeling a sense of worry as the mountain drew closer. Only a few minutes now. “This world was marred many years ago, the poisoned landscape is a scar that it bares. Thanos has left many scars across the universe-“ she resisted the urge to look down at her hands, torn apart and replaced, again and again, “- so I believe that these worlds must have been...spared, by what you call the curse.” She changed subjects, not wanting to think about Thanos any longer, “The land around the mountain is safe, it seems that it is protected against the poison by the pools of-“

“You said you were Thanos’ kid...“

“Adopted.” She scowled, annoyed at the interruption, and at the return to the subject of her father.

“...adopted kid, yeah,” he almost smirked at that, as if recalling something, “So, did you help him destroy planets like this?”

She stayed silent for a moment before muttering, “Not this one. Not me.” The ship’s lights dimmed as she set it down atop the mountain, besides some tall pillars. Nothing else of interest stood out to her, but she knew she had to check. Before opening the back of the ship, Tony hurried forwards, putting his hands up slightly.

“Okay, I get that you think your sister’s here, but how do you know we can survive here? Is the air breathable?” The suit suddenly enveloped his body as he spoke, jarringly changing the sound of his voice.

“We’ll see,” she slammed the button to open the hatch, marching out before it’d even properly lowered, “If you aren’t dead, either join me or stay there, I’m not leaving my ship open.”

* * *

He chose to stay, retracting his helmet as soon as the ship was fully closed again.

It wasn't that he didn’t like space, it’s just that he fucking  _hated_ space. He’d somehow held it together on the spaceship and on Titan, mostly for Peter’s sake, but now the kid was gone and it was all his fault and he was going to die here too, and oh god what about Rhodey and Pepper and-

Okay. Deep breaths. The oxygen mask was still on his chair and he grabbed it, closing his eyes as he breathed normally and pretended that he was still on Earth. It was just a nightmare, like every other night. Pepper would wake him soon, and he’d be able to hold her and kiss her and make sure she was safe. She was safe. No matter what happened, he couldn’t let anything happen to her; not again. He was still paying for last time. Unless she was already...

God damn it, they had been so close! He seethed at the thought of Quill throwing away their one opportunity to steal the gauntlet, at Strange exchanging the stone for Tony’s life. It  _wasn’t_  worth it. He’d be willing to for a thousand times if it meant that Peter would be fine, that Pepper would be fine. That Steve.... No, Steve was probably fine too. He’d get back to Earth and Steve would have that awful look on his face, judging him for failing, for not doing more, for losing Peter. He wondered if any of the other heroes had died too, if they’d known what was happening to them. If the ones left would blame him for failing.

He heard a scream from outside the ship, and for a moment he didn’t know where he was, flashes of Afghanistan and New York and Sokovia appearing in front of his eyes. But he hesitantly suited up to leave the ship and follow the noise, making sure that the nanotech left no parts of him exposed. 

God, he hated space.

He found her, Nebula, screaming with anger and sorrow next to the body of a green-skinned woman at the bottom of the cliff. Tony obviously didn’t know anything about the conditions of the planet, or the woman’s species, but he guessed that she hadn’t been there long. He didn’t have to guess that this was Gamora, as he could hear Nebula gasp the name in-between screams. He kept a distance, not wanting to impose on Nebula’s grieving, but also (although he’d never admit it) rather fearful. She looked as if she was able to rip him apart with her bare hands, and as she suddenly quietened, he wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

“I will tear him apart,” she hissed, raising to her feet and staring down at the body, “I will use everything I have to make his demise just as painful as he has made my entire  _life_.”

He didn’t doubt it.

* * *

They returned to the ship in silence. Tony had asked her whether she wanted to take the body or not, but she hadn’t been able to answer. She didn’t want to accept it, not like this. For years, she’d wanted to see Gamora defeated, or injured at least. Or even a  _sign_  of reluctance at fighting her little sister. She’d wanted her dead; had flung her into space, had tried to crash a ship into her, had tried  _everything_. Now she would do anything to get her back. But the universe didn’t offer any solutions this time.

She’d closed Gamora’s eyes, and moved her into a sleeping position. She’d brushed her hair with her fingers and hummed a song that they used to sing when they were young. She hadn’t sung in years, and didn’t even know if she could anymore, considering all the enhancements. One of the many things that Thanos stole from her. Nebula sat there until she couldn’t feel her legs, before allowing Tony to pull her up and guide her back to the ship. In any other circumstance she would’ve immediately stabbed him, but there was no point now, was there? The only reason she killed in the first place was due to Thanos (well, that and the fact that she was incredibly good at it). But despite her anger, she wasn’t stupid enough to backstab the only other person still alive with her. She wasn’t an idiot like Quill.

When they reached the ship, she wasn’t in the pilot seat. They were sat on opposite benches in the back of the ship, with Tony fiddling with an electronic device that created hologram projections. She could hear voices playing, some familiar, most not. When he noticed her lucidity, the holograms withdrew back into the device, and he gave an incredibly forced smile which dropped after a second. 

“You know, this has turned into a really bad day,” he muttered, “I’d been planning my wedding, had a really good talk with Pepper, even planned to meet up with Rhodey after lunch... and then this shit had to happen.”

“I was tortured for half a year before escaping today.” A pained look flashed in Tony’s eyes as his hand twitched towards his chest. Her next words unintentionally came out as a whisper, “I lost my sister, and my leg is permanently damaged, as I didn’t manage to acquire the parts to fix it before leaving.” Why was she telling him this? She didn’t know him, he could use this information against her to kill her and take her ship if he wanted. Well, he could try, anyway. 

Tony blinked, looking slightly stunned, “Fair enough, you win.” He squinted at the leg that she’d pointed at, “You know...if you need it fixed, I can-“

“No.”

“But-“

“If anyone fixes it, it will be me.” Tony looked apologetic, and she almost felt guilty for her harshness, but ultimately didn’t. Every twinge in her body reminded her of how much she’d lost, and she wasn’t prepared to go through that again. “Do Terrans eat?”

He paused at her sudden change of subject, and thankfully didn’t try to sway her back to the subject of Thanos again.

“Humans? Yeah, we eat. Though I haven’t had anything except coffee for twenty seven hours.” He answered her confused expression, “Coffee’s like heaven in liquid form, not great for you but hey, helps me stay awake. Better than booze, anyway. Oh, booze is-“

“I know what alcohol is, Stark.” She said, standing up and moving back to the captain’s seat. She’d never tasted it, and her enhancements probably meant that she couldn’t get drunk, but in some situations she really wished that she could. And by “some situations” that meant now. Right now.  “Terrans did not create the concept. I ask because I do not want you to die on my ship before I return you to Earth. It would be inconvenient.”

Tony almost smiled at that, and she wondered whether humans were simply more sentimental than most races. No wonder they were confined to a single planet.

“You gonna treat me to lunch?” He asked the question in a confident tone that didn’t suit his expression. “I appreciate it, but I’d rather not leave this ship till we get to Earth. Uh, don’t wanna get lost or anything, and this is ingenious design, anyway...”

* * *

“We’ve gotten so many distress calls from other planets, do you know what’s happening?” The vendor asked,  “Is it...is it  _him_?”

Nebula nodded as she took the food, glancing at the scrawny, sick-looking vendor who served it to her. Their single eye welled up as the scales covering their arms instinctively changed colour, and they took back Nebula’s container to place another, free, serving.

“I...I’m sorry if you’ve lost anyone. I hope you can find a way to handle the situation...” they glanced around at the ruined city, “...better than we did.”

Nebula took a steadying breath, uttering a quiet thank you before walking away. She knew she didn’t deserve this; didn’t deserve sympathy when she helped the being who destroyed half of this planet, who destroyed half of the universe.

* * *

She knew Tony was lying about why he didn’t want to leave the ship. She didn’t understand why, but it was also difficult to care about someone she’d only met hours ago. Plus she was still learning how to care again.

So when she left then returned to the ship with metal containers filled with food, she pretended not to notice how Tony flinched slightly each time the door opened. She wasn’t going to bother with a heart-to-heart, it wasn’t her style, but she did try to open and close the ship as quickly as possible. Mostly for safety reasons, of course. He seemed appreciative of the food, albeit slightly confused, poking at the purple meat in his tray as she powered up the ship again.

“Okay before I die from poisoning or something, this is safe for me to eat right?”

“It’s-“ she’d barely finished her first word before he made a satisfied noise.

“Holy _shit_ , I don’t care if this kills me,” he spoke with his mouth full, seeming better now that he was keeping his eyes off the expanse of space outside the window as they flew, “This is better than Pepper’s steaks and that’s saying some...” he cleared his throat, pausing uncomfortably for a second “...thing..” He returned to his food in silence. He ate only using his right hand, still keeping his left arm held against his chest.

Nebula chose not to speak for most of the duration of the rest of the journey. Occasionally Tony would ask a question about different elements of the ship, either making suggestions for improvements or simply praising the ingenuity of it all. His suit did seem very advanced for a Terran’s creation, but he was still amusingly fascinated by everything surrounding him. She didn’t miss how he casually held his hand up to his face so that he wouldn’t see the window in his peripheral vision. She didn’t bring it up.

Another three hours, and about twelve rambling questions and short answers later, they were getting close to Earth. From what Tony had chattered on about during the periods between his suggested improvements to the ship, it seemed as though it was a pleasant planet. He’d spoken of good food and places and people, although he’d had a hard time getting through the latter. Understandable, since half of the people he knew were likely dead. Earth seemed like a planet she’d have loved to visit during her youth, or even more recently. Knowing that her father had killed half of the universe had really put a dampener on what was left of her adventuring spirit. 

“Where do you want me to land?”

* * *

Tony chewed his lip, staring down at Earth. From such a distance, it looked normal, unharmed, as if by chance Thanos’ curse had missed the population of his planet. Putting on his glasses, he tapped the rim.

“Friday?” They we’re close to the planet now, much closer than he’d been on the flying donut ship. “Fri, can you hear me?”

He could’ve cried with relief as a familiar Irish accent crackled in his ears. 

“Loud and clear, boss, welcome back. Would you like me to inform Miss Potts that you are-“

“Pep’s okay?” Even through he knew full well that F.R.I.D.A.Y. wasn’t human, he still felt bad interrupting her. Hell, he usually felt more emotion for his bots than actual humans. Pepper was an exception. “Call her, now.”

There was a pause where Pepper’s ringtone rang through his glasses, echoing slightly around the ship. He noticed Nebula glancing at him with an indiscernible expression.

“Miss Potts doesn’t seem to be-“

“Fuck!” He slammed his fist into the wall besides him, breathing heavily. 

That didn’t mean anything. Maybe she was just busy, helping other people who’s friends and families had disappeared. That must’ve been it, Pepper was always helping people, she was kind, and generous, and...and he....she was... 

“You are showing signs of the beginning of an anxiety attack, boss. I recommend that you-“

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he muttered, glancing at the oxygen mask beside the chair. Not right now, other things were more important. “Call...call Rhodey, Fri.”

Listening to the tinny version of “Anything You Can Do” _(“Wow, bit on the nose, but I’ll allow it. Can’t believe you gave us individual ringtones, do you have a lot of free time?”   “Shut it, Tony.”)_ play for however long it did was agony, and Tony found that he did need to take a few deep breaths using the oxygen mask. He almost jumped when a voice sounded through the glasses.

_“Tony? Holy shit, Tones, are you okay?”_ He’s never been so relieved to hear Rhodey’s voice.

“Yeah, I...” he shook his head, feeling drained, “where are you?” 

_“The Avengers facility, headed over here from Wakanda. You in your suit? Wait, I thought you were on that giant ship?”_

“I’m... I’ll explain when I get there. See ya.”

_“Tony, wait-"_

Wordlessly, he passed the glasses to Nebula, who took them without hesitation, listening to F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice and inputting the coordinates into the dashboard of the ship. After doing so, the ship began to move on its own, and the alien clicked her fingers to draw Tony’s attention. One of her fingers almost snapped with a small spark and she cursed.

“I’ll fix that later.” She muttered, pulling her hand back.

Tony almost chuckled at that, taking the oxygen mask, pressing it to his face and taking a few more deep breaths before returning it to the side.

“Will you be safe?” she asked.

“On Earth?”

“Yes. I don’t know anything about the planet.” She turned back to the window, turning off the autopilot and guiding the ship towards a large continent. The sun was on the other side of the planet, and they could see twinkling lights across the dark landscape.

“Yeah, I have friends there. A friend.” He patted his pocket for the flip phone before remembering that he’d dropped it during the battle on Earth. It was probably lost in the rubble by now, just like the Earth. He felt a range of unpleasant emotions as he wondered whether the rest of his team survived. Former team. If their families were okay; Clint’s kids and Peter’s aunt. 

He blinked dazedly as he felt the ship landing with a thud, peering out at the large windows spread along the side of the Avengers’ facility. Only one room was illuminated, and he could guess which one. 

“Does this location seem correct?” Nebula asked, gesturing at the building. “It’s quite ugly.”

Tony actually laughed at that, a single bark of laugher that aggravated his side but still felt so good. He hadn’t laughed in ages.

“Yeah, this is it. Come on.” They both walked out of the ship as the ramp lowered, but as they reached the tall, damp grass (god, he’d missed boring old Earth), Nebula held back.

“I’m not going.”

“What?”

“I have no reason to join you.” She crossed her arms, “This is your planet; your people. I do not belong here, and I do not wish to. I have things to do." 

Tony frowned at her, not even bothering to be subtle about how much he disagreed with her.

“You wanna find him, don’t you?” He continued at her silence, “You’ll die if you do that.”

“Then I'll die knowing that I have done my part to weaken him. Maybe I will be at peace then.”

“Maybe...” he really didn’t want to think about how her perspective was so similar to his. Steve would’ve probably gone on for ten minutes about how they would band together as a team to defeat Thanos. Fat lot of good that did; they couldn’t even defeat him with a literal wizard on their team. “I don’t think you should, but I’m not gonna stop you. Don’t think I physically could, to be honest.”

She almost,  _almost_  smiled at that, and he felt satisfied. There was still a horrible, empty feeling in his chest from witnessing Peter dying, and knowing that Pepper might be dead too. He knew that feeling was never going away. But he was almost proud of Nebula’s determination, while simultaneously ashamed of his own unwillingness to go into space.

“Look," he stepped forwards as she began to walk away, "I, personally, don’t want you to die. Look, I don’t know if I believe in the afterlife or anything, but if you do...you know, visit it, eventually, could you tell...”

“I’ll talk to the spider boy,” she called, heading back into the ship.  Her voice echoed through the ship’s speaker as the door closed behind her. “But I’ll attempt not to die, if it will make you feel better.”

“Awfully kind of you.” He remarked, moving around to face the front of the ship where she now sat. “I’m sorry about your sister and your friends, Nebula.” His hair was blown back slightly as the ship began to hover off the ground, leaving a blackened patch of grass beneath it. 

Nebula nodded in gratitude, thand corner of her mouth twitching upwards almost unnoticeably. 

“I’m sorry about your son, Tony Stark. Hopefully I will be able to avenge them.”

Before Tony could respond, the air behind the ship filled with a row of blue flames, and it almost knocked him on his ass as it flew over him, aiming up into the air above him. He didn’t look away even after it’d disappeared into the dark clouds. Huh, he hadn’t even noticed that it was raining. Maybe the sky was crying over their failures as well.

“Tony?”

He turned around to face the Avengers Facility, and his best friend standing about ten feet away from him, looking simultaneously exhausted yet relieved. Tony had no idea how he hadn’t heard the man, but hey, watching a spaceship flying away was a pretty understandable distraction.

“Hey, Rhodes...” he sighed with an small, tired smile, “Long day?”

Rhodey didn’t even hesitate before walking over and pulling Tony into a hug.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, Infinity War hurt me like a motherfucker ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
> 
> but two of my favourite characters met, so thats cool
> 
> now lets just wait a year to see how inaccurate everything in this fic is


End file.
